Recent reviews of research on innovation in tourism have highlighted a number of weaknesses in the literature.
Among these is the limited theorizing and empirical investigation of innovative practices by tourism organizations.
This paper responds to these concerns by examining one important dimension of innovation within commercial tourism organizations, namely their ability to acquire, assimilate and utilize external knowledge (absorptive capacity) for competitive advantage.
The topic is pertinent because there is evidence to suggest that tourism organizations are particularly dependent on external sources of knowledge when compared with businesses in other sectors.
Following a discussion of the conceptual antecedents of absorptive capacity and its dimensions, a validated instrument for its measurement is developed and used to measure the absorptive capacity of the British hotel sector.
The results suggest that current conceptions of absorptive capacity have limitations when applied to tourism enterprises. Absorptive capacity is re-conceptualized to overcome these deficiencies. The research and policy implications of the findings are discussed.